


like lion taming

by multicorn



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-29
Updated: 2013-03-29
Packaged: 2017-12-06 19:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/739491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/multicorn/pseuds/multicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine’s fallen to his knees on the stage, ropes tied around his wrists and his ankles, posture perfectly submissive, head down.  Kurt’s standing next to him, face unhidden, looking up into the audience, brave and terrified.  (And this is an audition.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	like lion taming

**Author's Note:**

> jakia declared guilty pleasures week, and I can’t get this picture out of my head. [link to picture: http://lettersfromtitan.tumblr.com/post/46304196564/oopsibrokethefork-oh-my-god-who-did-this ]

Blaine’s fallen to his knees on the stage, ropes tied around his wrists and his ankles, posture perfectly submissive, head down.  Kurt’s standing next to him, face unhidden, looking up into the audience, brave and terrified.

Carmen nods to the band where they’re hidden in the wings, and the music they’ve chosen together begins to play.

Moving in time with the beat, Kurt circles around behind Blaine, and says “stand;” then he bends down and grabs the ropes above Blaine’s feet, and holds them so he  _can’t._   Blaine’s feet push down, and his knees and thighs strain upwards, and he’s hanging more in the air than ever when Kurt reaches up and pulls himself up on one of the ropes that’s holding Blaine’s hands.

The music trills, dramatic and instrumental; they spin on the ropes hanging from the ceiling, almost off-balance but not quite.  Kurt plants his feet to catch them both and their bodies stop, breathing heavy, swinging slowly like a pendulum coming to rest.

Drums start around them, martial and strong, and Kurt steps away from the ropes, and says “stand” again.  Blaine does - feet apart to shoulder width, arms straight out, head up and eyes shuttered.  The drums beat, a rhythm that everyone knows, and Kurt puts Blaine through his paces.  (They’re both put through their paces, really, together).  Raise one arm, in time to the conductor’s movements, and then the other; try to touch yourself, and fail; bring your feet together, and skate one backwards and one forwards until you’re as close to a split as the ropes will let you get, and hang from it, unsteady, again.

Blaine is perfection, his movements not just unhesitating but seemingly without volition.  (It takes, of course, so much control to move like that, but he’s good.)  Kurt’s shakier, his direction on-beat but the lines of his body held a bit too stiff, because he’s trying so hard not to be nervous that the effort can’t help but seep through.

The drums recede again, and the music blossoms, violins and flute, into the dance that they’ve chosen; Kurt bends down to lift Blaine back up, and then circles around him, touching, knees, elbows, waist, and Blaine bends in response.  Kurt takes the ropes again, and pulls on them, and Blaine dance-runs to one side of the stage, then the other when Kurt twirls away from him, still holding the ropes.  They come back at last to the position they started in, Blaine kneeling, Kurt beside him, looking up, when the music stops.

“Very good,” says Carmen, “you may leave now,” and they do; Kurt unfastens the ropes from around Blaine’s wrists and ankles and they bow to her, and walk dignified off the stage.

It’s not until they’re out of the wings and out of the room altogether, waiting in the hallway to hear when their names are called, that both of them sink down to the floor.  Kurt takes Blaine’s right wrist in both his hands to rub it, the circulation back in and the reddened crease marks out, and Blaine bends his head close, and whispers, “how do you think we did?”

Kurt shrugs; if he could  _tell_ , the audition process wouldn’t be half so nerve-wracking, would it now.  ”I think you’ll be good,” he says instead, as he reaches over Blaine’s body to take his left wrist.  ”You’re always great at the submissive parts, you know that,” and Blaine looks up to catch his eye, and grins, and they share a quiet little laugh.

“Do my ankle?” Blaine asks as he stretches out his leg, and Kurt takes it.  Blaine chews his lip, thinking.  ”Do you think you would’ve done better with someone else for the pairs part?  Because I know that I feel better with you, but - “

Kurt shrugs again, frustrated, and says shortly, “I don’t know.”  He releases Blaine’s foot to scrub his hands over his own face, and sighs.  ”Can’t tell, I told you.”

A door creaks open down the hall, and the freshman who’s acting as Carmen’s assistant today (he thinks her name is Dottie?) calls out, “Mr. Blaine Anderson?  It’s time for your singing audition now.”

He gets up, and Kurt gives him back the shoe that he’d removed.  ”Good luck,” he whispers, and Blaine pulls him up to hug him fast.

“You too.”

Kurt watches him walk down the hallway, and hopes.  They want to get out of here together; but if their pairs performance wasn’t good enough, he’ll have to let go and let Blaine get out of here alone.


End file.
